I believe this post marks the begining of my third year of montly Blog updates on my website. How time flies.
KICKSTARTER ARRIVALS
It’s that early period of the year where Crowdfunded games are few and far between. We only had one arrival, but there’s the promise of an epic February if the planets align.
FRENCH QUARTER is the next Roll ‘n’ Write from the team behind THREE SISTERS and MOTOR CITY. While running a car factory didn’t grab my attention as much as gardening did, I’m hoping this one will see more plays in the next few weeks.
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH
I was extremely lucky to be gifted THE ANCIENT WORLD from the amazing folks at Dice Portsmouth (my FLGS) when I visited with friends for a sort of Stag gathering. I was so looking forward to trying it, having it on my wishlist for quite some time, that I made it the first play of 2024. And the game is fantastic. It contained some deluxe components which is really nice (metal coins!). The worker placement, trying to make your city state the most influential through various actions, is good, with a handful of spots becoming available on certain rounds. And all the while you’re fending off Titans. I can see this getting played a lot this year and I can’t wait to try it at four.
We really enjoyed our plays of ON TOUR last year, but seeing as the project I backed was for it’s sequel, ON TOUR: PARIS & NEW YORK, and the original was but an add-on, it seems rude that we’ve not played it yet. But we’ve put it on our 20×5 for this year to give it a chance, and the first play of the Paris map went well. It’s pretty much as basic as the USA map from the original, but has the added travel mechanic of travel on the river.
With our good gaming friends visiting us on the last relaxing Saturday before the wedding, we managed to get some games to the table we’d either been desperate to try at more than two, or that we’ve wanted to try in the first place. SMARTPHONE INC is one of those games that I’ve always been aware of, but we never knew anyone who owned the game and didn’t have the urge to buy it ourselves. So we were happy to be taught it and it turns out it’s quite a good little econimc game. The turns have a nice flow to them as you branch out around the globe and begin to get competetive with each other the closer towards the end game you are. Which translates to “I was happy to sit quietly in South America for the early game, but many devious moves were made in the final round as I made effort to block people”. Mwah ha ha (twirls mustache).
We had a choice of two games to learn for our final play of the day, and while COIMBRA is one I’m interested in trying, my fiancee saw the art work for PETRICHOR and cast the deciding vote. It’s a game with an outer shell of relaxing light game, but beneath the surface it can get quite visious as you start to manipulate others rain drops for your needs and totally against their wishes.
We’ve had ABYSS on our Shelf Of Shelf since UKGE 2022. I really liked the look of the art and it’s from Bruno Cathala, but for some reason we’ve not gotten around to playing it in about 18 months. So when we were looking for another 52×1 game to tick off, it seemed like a good choice. The teach is quite easy, and the playtime meant it was done before lunch. And we both ended up really liking it. Which is good, because I may have done that thing where you buy expansions and inserts for unplayed games.
We’ve been selling games and making room lately, so purchasing has been minimised. But a post Wedding shopping trip where we were treating ourselves fell a little flat as none of the items I’d been eyeing up (a latest graphic noivel, a lego set) were in stock anywhere. But Southamptoin’s Waterstones has a great selection of games, and so, making surte I kept it small, I grabbed TREK 12. We’ve only had a single play, and not gotten into the extra hidden content, but it’s a really nice twist on the Roll ‘n’ Write mechanic with five ways to use the dice being limited to only a handful times each per game. Just the basic game is fun so we’re definitely excited to get stuck into the envelopes.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Taking part in the #rollingrealmschallenge set up by @acheekeemonkee
- 4-Player game of EXPEDITIONS
- Games day with @thoughtsofameeple and her husband
- And something else . . .
- . . . something important . . .
- . . . something that’s kind of a big deal . . .
- . . . oh yeah – we got married!!!!!! (see previous post)
Always Play Blue 